Alex spends his time at Taekwondo drawing. One of the teachers was into Pokemon years ago and they discuss the older characters.
Teague absolutely loves Taekwondo.
I love when “quiet time” turns into a nap.
In this house we encourage creative problem solving. (This also comes across as the more independent everyone can be then the more smoothly the day goes.) Sometimes creative problem solving and safety don’t always go hand in hand.
Today we sorted Kaitlyn’s clothes and Ben was happy to supervise.
Suddenly Ben’s another month older…
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Everybody loves when Gram visits.
Another nap on the couch.
I tried to explain to these two that they had it backwards. The monkey pillow belongs to Ben and Madison should be on the floor. They didn’t seem to care.
Teague has shown more of an interest in soccer this year than ever before. Then he gets on the field and is fascinated by the game and the ball – but he almost wants to watch the game more than participate. We have found that all this makes him a pretty awesome goalie. He somehow knows where to be when and can indulge his love of watching more than being in the thick of the chaos.
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Alex was in heaven. Gram fixed his all time favorite breakfast.
Soccer saturday.
My Mom is visiting and we’ve been working hard to get my house put back together after all the room switching. Obviously we have run Kaitlyn ragged. She fell asleep on the couch when we weren’t looking.
Just when I think Pokemon is finally gone, he reappears. This time the cards are no longer interesting, but Alex is fascinated with trying to draw the characters. He has a book of all the characters that he studies and then uses as a guide to draw.
I was specifically told NOT to walk to the bus stop this morning. Gram was the grownup crossing the street.
This chill little guy just watches our crazy life fly by.
Kaitlyn loves the idea of goggles but rarely actually puts them on her eyes. Today she insisted and wouldn’t let me help her. I offered several times to put them on rightsize up, but she insisted they were fine. She’s not headstrong or independent at all.
These kids had a blast throwing things into the fish pond (with no fish) and then trying to find them with the net.
Ben is attempting to hold his own bottle. What a whole new world that will be!
We have had the craziest schedule this spring. There are definitely too many activities on our plate, but we’ve managed to get everyone where they needed to be at the appropriate time. (Everyone is not always fed and happy.) Yesterday I had just enough time between two activities to run into the grocery and pick up what I needed for dinner. I pulled into the grocery store parking lot – exactly 3 minutes away from our previous location. I turned around and realized three of my four passengers had fallen asleep.
Then the question was whether I let everyone have a short nap or I woke everyone up so that we had what we needed for dinner. Decisions are the worst!
These days I am always running late or just barely making it on time. I rarely have time for unexpected delays – such as getting to my car only to realize that Kaitlyn’s seat (not her carseat – the actual seat) wasn’t in the car. We had taken it out last night to move something and hadn’t put it back in. It wasn’t the best solution but Kaitlyn got her first ride in a booster seat today.
Kaitlyn and I met friends at the park today. She and Mason were adorable together as we played and picnicked.
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When he heard I was coming to take his picture for the day, Alex ran and hid. I decided to take the best I could get.
Brushing his teeth is always a trial. Due to his teeth issues I feel like I will be brushing them till he is 18. Today I let him have a go at it first.
I was taking a short nap on my bed and woke up to find this sight next to my bed (and happened to have my camera on my bedside table).
Front yard football.
Napper.
Kaitlyn likes things a certain way (wonder who she gets that from?). In the mornings she wants her robe and her slippers – especially if I am wearing mine. (Just to be clear, I don’t have pink bunny slippers.) The last few mornings she has also come downstairs with the tiniest purse you have ever seen on her wrist. I can’t believe she can find it every morning, but there it is.
Pop left early this morning and we found his tea still warm on the table. Alex decided to try a sip.
This is us just trying to get to the park (and a stroller out of frame).
First night in their new room.
A little after-church-iPad time.
Part of me can’t wait to get this neon-monstrosity out of my kitchen. The other part of me is going to miss it a little.
I had forgotten the craziness that ensues when we have everybody at home – people sharing rooms, soccer games, birthday celebrations, last minute painting, etc. It’s our life and I love it.
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Pop and his grandkids.
These guys are saying goodbye to Granny before getting on a plane with Pop to fly back to Boston.
Daddy took Kaitlyn out for hot dogs – her favorite!
The youngest two and me.
It’s another comparison game. All three babies in the same outfit in the same chair – but at different ages. Guess who is who.
We have been working hard all week with a few fun outings for Kaitlyn with her friends. One friend offered to take her to a magic show today so I could continue to paint. She was excited to go and I was excited to keep painting. Ben was happy to hang out in an empty room and admire his smile.
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Granny and Pop find the best activities.
Wade got up with Kaitlyn and Ben this morning and I slept in a little!
These two..
Alex got crafty.
First time driving the tractor by himself. There could not be a happier boy.
I’m pretty sure Ben was counting toast and knew there wasn’t enough for him too.
When we were moving into the house, the movers managed to put a huge scratch in the middle of Kaitlyn’s floor. During our settlement, it was determined it couldn’t be repaired and the entire room would need to be refinished. They gave us up to 6 months to have the work completed. This gave us plenty of time to enlarge the closet in her room. The floors are large plank pine and there are significant gaps between some of the planks. In most of the rooms it isn’t an issue but in kid rooms we have found it bothersome. (Particularly in the boys’ room with little legos.) Some of the rooms downstairs have narrow strips between the large planks. Wade had discussed with the refinisher possibly filling the gaps and the man was open to the idea. Wade finally decided to do it himself. Here’s the project in pictures. First the wood putty currently filling the gaps and to be removed, then strips had to be cut to random widths, measured to length, glue applied, and then hammered into place. Easy, right? Just ask Wade. The end result was awesome!
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The refinishing guys showed up and spent the next few days doing their work and now we have some gorgeous floors. I wish we could have all our floors redone! (I didn’t think to take a picture of the floors before Wade removed the wood putty, but I had another room that shows exactly what it would have looked like.)
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These boys can’t agree on anything – even which state they are in.
Today we left Wade at home working. (Have I mentioned Wade took the week off work to get stuff done at home? We figured having 2 kids at home would allow for way more project time.) Kaitlyn and I joined some friends at West End Creamery for jumping and ice cream!
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